250 Motor not working and constant beeping sound on startup of Trex 250 PRO DFC FBL.

[Helihead]

Hi all,

I have just completed my build on a Trex 250 PRO DFC. Everything went well on the build and everything is working just fine. I only have one issue that I can not for the life of me figure out.

When I plug the motor into my ESC after I have powered up the heli the motor makes a constant beeping sound.

I have read in the manual and elsewhere on the internet that this means that my motor thinks that the throttle is not at 0 so will not initialize.

I have gone through my radio to make sure that everything throttle related is at 0 with no luck...

Does anyone have any ideas what this might be and what I can do to fix this?

It's the last thing I need to do before I can start tweeking this thing in the air so am really wanting to sort this problem out!

Thanks in advance for any answers.

 

[murankar]

Have you calibrated the esc to the throttle movement rang?

If not the turn on the tx, move the throttle to max, then plug in esc.

Once you here the first set of beeps then move the throttle to min position. At this point you should here the motor initialize.

Sent from my LG-E980 using Forum Runner

 

[Tony]

Do what URI mentioned above first. But, Align ESC's will put out a tone to the motor until you give it throttle input. If you watch my Align 450 Pro build videos, you will see, somewhere in there, I mention having to raise then lower the throttle so it knows I'm in control of it. But you should calibrate it first before doing this so the ESC knows your endpoints.

 

[Stambo]

Also make sure you don't have the throttle channel reversed.
I assume you do not have main blades on yet.
If you do, TAKE THEM OFF before you do what muranker suggested.
If the throttle channel is reversed it may spool up.

 

[pvolcko]

Take them off anyway! I made the mistake of leaving them on once when I was doing ESC endpoint setup. Luckily the motor was reversed and it just spun the auto-rotation bearing instead of driving the gear train. Scared the heck out of me though and have never left the blades on when doing that kind of ESC setup again.

 

[Helihead]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have tried to set the 3GX throttle calibration as per page 25 on the instruction manual with no success.

I looked through a few Youtube clips including the one you have supplied Tony (3GX Setup Guide Part 2 DIR & Governor Setup 6min 45 into your vid that explains how to do this) just to make sure I am doing this step correctly.

I set all of my Pitch/Throttle curves linear. I even rebound the radio just to make sure that wasn't the problem.

I'm still getting the same constant beeping sound out of my motor after the ESC initializes with no power at all on the motor just a constant fast beeping.

I plugged the ESC/Motor from this DFC 250 into an older 250 of mine that is setup and flybared to see if the ESC/Motor is the problem. The ESC/Motor worked when I ran it off the Flybared 250s receiver. I am using a DX7 with my older Trex 250 and a DX9 with the new DFC 250 so it is obviously something in the radio or 3GX that is the problem...

I also tried to reverse my throttle just to make sure that wasn't the problem with no luck.

What am I doing wrong? I have gone through the manual again to see if there is anything I have missed and it seems that all of the other setup steps are done.

Everything else is working just fine. I also cant set the ESC up because the setup process for the ESC cant be accessed as giving full throttle stick on start up does not let me get into the programming side of the ESC it just bypasses that and starts the motor beeping no matter what I do after I plug it in but I would have thought that factory settings on the ESC work as they did on my other 250.

I'm stumped as to what to do next.

Any other ideas what I'm doing wrong? I have obviously missed something for this to be happening.

Thanks again for any help.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and of course I am doing all of this without the blades on!

 

[Tony]

The 3GX Gov setup (throttle calibration as you called it) is only for the gyro. Did you do what URI posted above? Turn Tx on and raise throttle to full stick. plug helicopter in, listen for first beeps and lower the throttle stick all the way? This is the ESC calibration. I do this to every ESC I get because you never get one that is perfectly calibrated to your tx.

 

[Helihead]

Hi Tony, I have done what was stated in the manual (it's called 3GX throttle calibration in the manual) and what you and URI have mentioned here.

Unfortunately this has no effect on the end result which is my motor making a continuous beeping and no power.

I'm going to have another look through your setup vids to make double sure I haven't missed anything.

I'm hoping that it's just something simple I've missed. Have spent many hours trying to work this out which is why I'm asking for help.

Thanks again.

 

[Tony]

Lower your throttle trim all the way down. Let me know if it stops.

 

[Tony]

And posting a video of it will help out a lot. Keep us from trying to fix one thing when it's another.

 

[Westy]

What Tx are you using? .... If you are using Futaba .... you will have to reverse the throttle .... it sounds like ..... maybe the ESC is not getting a throttle signal at all? ... what happens if you start all over and put the throttle to full high stick? .... are all your Servo wires connected the correct way round on the 3GX?
Try removing all and just connecting the Throttle one from the ESC to the 3GX ...... make sure you have the correct polarity on the servo wire.

will be interested to see if that fixes it.

 

[Helihead]

Hey Guys, thanks for the replies. I have tried to do everything that is mentioned here a few times over with no luck.

Westy, I'm using a DX9 so the throttle should not need to be reversed but I have tried this just in case it was the problem with no luck.

Have also tried to do the start-up with throttle at full stick as was suggested. Still the same beeping sound.

Servo wires definitely the right way around as everything else is working just fine with the 3GX. Connecting only the throttle to the 3GX no go either. If the polarity of the throttle is the wrong way around then all of the servos wouldn't work either. (As they are all plugged in the same way polarity wise as the throttle).

I do agree with you that it sounds like the throttle is not getting any signal but why? Have I not activated something in my radio? Or the 3GX?

Tony, I lowered the throttle trim all the way down as well with no luck either.

Here is a link to what the sound is showing me going through the step that I thought would fix the problem. I have tried many variations on this step as well as have tried this step many times over just in case I wasn't doing it correctly.


(The positive wire on the motor is left off in the clip but it makes no difference to the end result if I plug it in).

My gut feeling is that it must be a setting in the DX9 that is telling the 3GX that there is still throttle active so the motor is not initializing.

Unfortunately there is not much info on the DX9 set-up yet as it's such a new radio. It is very similar to the DX8 but has a few more menus to go through so maybe I have missed something.

Any other ideas?

 

[Tony]

Leave your throttle stick up until the 3GX fully initializes then lower teh stick. However, this is not the issue.

There is an auto-rotation setting in the DX9 somewhere, make sure that is not on. Make sure your f-mode switch is in normal mode with a linear pitch curve. Try plugging the ESC into a Rx, bypassing the 3GX. I couldn't tell if you were just using satellites or if you were using another Rx in that video. But try a separate rx and see if it will initialize.

 

[Helihead]

Hey Tony, thanks for all of your info and help.

I managed to get over to see a fellow helicopter pilot friend of mine and between the two of us and many trials of different things we managed to get the ESC to initialize.

I can't exactly tell you what the problem was but the fix ended up being starting a new model and setting it up from scratch in my radio.

Bench testing everything went well but on taking it out for its maiden test hover the heli had a really bad tail wag problem. I had the gain set to around 65% on the TX to start but no matter what gain setting I entered on the TX the wag problem didn't go away.

We took the heli back to the bench and went back over mechanical setup again as well as checked over the tail itself to make sure it was running silky smooth(No binding). Also went over the 3GX setup process in DIR mode to make sure that was all set right.

Back outside for another test and the same tail wag problem.. I'm not just talking about a slight tail wag it is unflyable with what the heli was doing. I am running 3GXV 4.0 and just 1 sat on my 250.

One thing I couldn't understand was why once I got down into a rate mode value on my TX (Below 4.5%) the helis tail was still acting like it was in HH mode? My 3GX was also changing from a green light to a red below 4.5% which is supposed to indicate it is in rate mode correct? Once again, in a test hover this made no difference to the flight characteristics weather it was at -20 or + 70% on the TX gain settings.

I have read in other places on the internet about tail problems with 3GXV 4.0 but this seems to be something I have missed for the problem to be as bad as it is. I have not done any tweaking on the computer program side of the 3GX to change any of the parameters so I think that will be the next stage in trying to alleviate the tail wag issues I am getting.

Do you think that something in the computer side of the programming will help the tail problems I am experiencing? I do realize that it could be many factors but in your experience is it necessary to tweak the gyro settings in the computer as well as the TX?

My friend who helped me set the 250 up has two helis running 3GX v3.1 and has been able to set up his helis with no computer tweaking at all. He is running a 700 and a 450 with his 3GX. The 250 seems to be a little more challenging in the setup process as I found out a while back with the original 250.

So, before I start getting into the computer side of tweaking the gyro parameters can you recommend any settings I should look to aim for as a ball park figure to get started?

Is there anything else you could think that I should check?

Thanks again for any help.

 

[Tony]

One thing you didn't state in that post is which light was changing. In your Gyro menu on your Tx, make sure the channel is Aux2 and not Gear. When you are only running a satellite, your gyro channel is 7 and your governor channel is 5.

 

[Tony]

Oh, and you can completely set up the helicopter with the gyro, but I strongly suggest you hook it up to the computer to set the pots on the gyro. You should set it to 105 on each aileron and elevator pot. As for the tail, there is not really much you can do in the computer menu to set it up to get rid of the wag.

 

[Helihead]

Hi again,

I finally managed to get back to setting up the 250 after work took away my build time and have managed to get the 250 off the ground with some sort of success.

I have only hovered it at this stage as I'm still not happy enough with the way it is behaving to start throwing it around.

The problem I am experiencing now is that it hovers well and feels pretty locked in but when I give rudder input like a fast pirouette left or right after I let go of the rudder stick it has a bounce back of about 1/2 to 1 inch. Kind of like it's wagging for a moment.

It then resumes a nice hover with no wag until I give it rudder input again.

I have gone over the settings in the 3GX Like size of Heli etc to make sure nothing was missed... and made sure the tail/linkages are as smooth as butter.

Everything seems right but the bounce back on the tail still makes it not flyable. I did up the gain untill it started waging and backed it off until the wag was gone. As I increased the gain in the radio it seemed to make the bounce back worse in the tail even when the heli held well with no wag..

I tried to lower the rudder lock gain in the computer settings to see if I could increase the gain in the TX which worked but it still didn't fix the problem. It seems like the tail servo is not doing its job?

Is there something that I have missed in the computer settings for the 3GX to get rid of the bounce back in the tail?

Tony you said I should set it to 105 on the elevator and aileron pot on the computer. Sorry about my ignorance but what do you mean by that? Is it a setting in the 3GX programme? Could this be the problem with the Bounce back problem I am experiencing?

The only mistake I found when I went back over my settings were that I had the 250 on the 3GX set for a large heli (Green Light) instead of red. This helped fix the wag problem it previously had but not the Bounce back problem it has now. Can I adjust the delay setting on the 3GX and if so what should I set it too for the 250? Could this be the problem?

I'm so close to getting this for a test flight now so I really want to fix this problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

BTW your setup videos Tony are very well put together! Nice and clear instructions. Thumbs up for such a great tutorial!!

 

[Tony]

This is one of the issues with 3GX V4.0, it has a HORRIBLE tail bounce back. I'm currently testing to see if I can get rid of it, but I"m thinking there is no fix at this time. 3.1 is the most stable "latest" version out there, but you need to get the helicopter off the ground FAST before the spool-up finishes. Otherwise it will tip on you and the blades will hit the ground. 2.1 is a great version, but is missing some of the options that I have shown in the videos. But, it's stable on the ground and in the air.